Petition To Ban All Racists From Football Matches For Life Nears 1 Million Signatures

Almost one million people have signed a petition calling for racist football fans to be banned from attending games in England.

Speaking of Rashford, Saka and Sancho, he wrote on social media, ‘Three lads who were brilliant all summer had the courage to step up and take a pen when the stakes were high. They deserve support and backing not the vile racist abuse they’ve had since last night. If you abuse anyone on social media you’re not an England fan and we don’t want you.’

Thousands of others have also condemned the abuse by signing the petition, which has more than doubled its signatures in less than 24 hours. At the time of writing, the petition sits at more than 884,000 signees.

After [Sunday’s] match, vile racist abuse was directed at our heroic players Marcus Rashford, Bukayo Saka and Jadon Sancho. Minutes after the final whistle of the Euro final, The Football Association issued a statement which said: “We could not be clearer that anyone behind such disgusting behaviour is not welcome in following the team. We will do all we can to support the players affected while urging the toughest punishments possible for anyone responsible”.

As multi-racial football fans, we finally feel represented by this anti-racist and inclusive England team. We could not be more proud or inspired by our magnificent team and by their talent, bravery, leadership and love for all. Gareth Southgate’s England team plays for ALL of us.

‘Their vision is an inclusive vision and this matters more than EVER – it’s why we feel proud of this team and why they’re so cherished and loved by many of us. There should be no room for racists and bigotry in football or society,’ the petition creators, simply known as Shaista, Amna and Huda, continued. The creators also referred to themselves as ‘#TheThreeHijabis’.

When the petition reached 400,000 signatures yesterday, July 11, Shaista, Amna and Huda thanked people for their support.

They wrote, ‘WOW – we’ve reached over 400,000 signers! THANK YOU for signing our petition to ban racism from football and for being part of this!’

‘We want to show the lads just how many fans are behind them and for them to keep being the inclusive and representative team that they are – please help us by SHARING this petition on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn or Instagram and help us build support for fighting racism wherever it exists – online and offline,’ they continued.